Puritanism

Puritans

General Information

Puritans was the name given in the 16th century to the more
extreme Protestants within the Church of England who thought
the English Reformation had not gone far enough in reforming
the doctrines and structure of the church; they wanted to purify
their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic
influence. In the 17th century many Puritans emigrated to the
New World, where they sought to found a holy Commonwealth in
New England. Puritanism remained the dominant cultural force
in that area into the 19th century.

English Puritanism

Associated exclusively with no single theology or definition of
the church (although many were Calvinists), the English Puritans
were known at first for their extremely critical attitude
regarding the religious compromises made during the reign of
Elizabeth I. Many of them were graduates of Cambridge University,
and they became Anglican priests to make changes in their local
churches. They encouraged direct personal religious experience,
sincere moral conduct, and simple worship services. Worship was
the area in which Puritans tried to change things most; their
efforts in that direction were sustained by intense theological
convictions and definite expectations about how seriously
Christianity should be taken as the focus of human existence.

After James I became king of England in 1603, Puritan leaders
asked him to grant several reforms. At the Hampton Court Conference
(1604), however, he rejected most of their proposals, which
included abolition of bishops. Puritanism, best expressed by
William Ames and later by Richard Baxter, gained much popular
support early in the 17th century. The government and the church
hierarchy, however, especially under Archbishop William Laud,
became increasingly repressive, causing many Puritans to
emigrate. Those who remained formed a powerful element within
the parliamentarian party that defeated Charles I in the English
Civil War. After the war the Puritans remained dominant in
England until 1660, but they quarreled among themselves
(Presbyterian dominance gave way to Independent, or
congregational, control under Oliver Cromwell) and proved even
more intolerant than the old hierarchy. The restoration of the
monarchy (1660) also restored Anglicanism, and the Puritan
clergy were expelled from the Church of England under the terms
of the Act of Uniformity (1662). Thereafter English Puritans were
classified as Nonconformists.

American Puritanism

Early in the 17th century some Puritan groups separated from the
Church of England. Among these were the Pilgrims, who in 1620
founded Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, under the auspices of
the Massachusetts Bay Company, the first major Puritan migration
to New England took place. The Puritans brought strong religious
impulses to bear in all colonies north of Virginia, but New
England was their stronghold, and the Congregationalist churches
established there were able to perpetuate their viewpoint about
a Christian society for more than 200 years.

Richard Mather and John Cotton provided clerical leadership in
the dominant Puritan colony planted on Massachusetts Bay. Thomas
Hooker was an example of those who settled new areas farther
west according to traditional Puritan standards. Even though he
broke with the authorities of the Massachusetts colony over
questions of religious freedom, Roger Williams was also a true
Puritan in his zeal for personal godliness and doctrinal
correctness. Most of these men held ideas in the mainstream of
Calvinistic thought. In addition to believing in the absolute
sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and the complete
dependence of human beings on divine grace for salvation, they
stressed the importance of personal religious experience. These
Puritans insisted that they, as God's elect, had the duty to
direct national affairs according to God's will as revealed in
the Bible. This union of church and state to form a holy
commonwealth gave Puritanism direct and exclusive control over
most colonial activity until commercial and political changes
forced them to relinquish it at the end of the 17th century.

Because of its diffuse nature, when Puritanism began to decline
in America is difficult to say. Some would hold that it lost its
influence in New England by the early 18th century, but Jonathan
Edwards and his able disciple Samuel Hopkins revived Puritan
thought and kept it alive until 1800. Others would point to the
gradual decline in power of Congregationalism, but Presbyterians
under the leadership of Jonathan Dickinson and Baptists led by
the example of Isaac Backus (1724 - 1806) revitalized Puritan
ideals in several denominational forms through the 18th century.

During the whole colonial period Puritanism had direct impact on
both religious thought and cultural patterns in America. In
the 19th century its influence was indirect, but it can still
be seen at work stressing the importance of education in
religious leadership and demanding that religious motivations
be tested by applying them to practical situations.

Puritanism

Advanced Information

Puritanism was a loosely organized reform movement originating during the
English Reformation of the sixteenth century. The name came from efforts to
"purify" the Church of England by those who felt that the
Reformation had not yet been completed. Eventually the Puritans went
on to attempt purification of the self and society as well.

History

The theological roots of Puritanism may be found in
continental Reformed theology, in a native dissenting tradition
stretching back to John Wycliffe and the Lollards, but especially in
the theological labors of first - generation English reformers. From
William Tyndale (d. 1536) the Puritans took an intense commitment to
Scripture and a theology which emphasized the concept of covenant;
from John Knox they absorbed a dedication to thorough reform in
church and state; and from John Hooper (d. 1555) they received a
determined conviction that Scripture should regulate ecclesiastical
structure and personal behavior alike.

Puritans achieved a measure of public acceptance in the early years
of Queen Elizabeth's reign. They then suffered a series of reverses
that lasted through the reigns of her successors James I and Charles
I. In the days of James I some Puritans grew discouraged about their
reforming efforts and separated entirely from the Church of England.
These Separates included the "Pilgrims," who after a sojourn in
Holland established in 1620 the Plymouth Colony in what is now
southeastern Massachusetts.

When Charles I attempted to rule England without Parliament and its
many Puritan members, and when he tried systematically to root
Puritans out of the English church, a larger, less separatistic body
emigrated to Massachusetts Bay (1630), where for the first time
Puritans had the opportunity to construct churches and a society
reflecting their grasp of the word of God. In England other Puritans
continued the struggle for reform. When war with Scotland forced
Charles I to recall Parliament in 1640, civil war was the ultimate
result.

That conflict ended with the execution of the king (1649),
the rise of Oliver Cromwell to the protectorate of England, the
production of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, and the
erection of a Puritan Commonwealth. Yet Cromwell, for all his
abilities, found it impossible to establish a Puritan state. After
his death (1658), the people of England asked the son of Charles I
to return, a restoration marking the collapse of organized
Puritanism in England. Across the Atlantic a vital Puritanism
survived only a little longer. By the time of Cotton Mather
(d. 1728) Indian warfare, the loss of the original Massachusetts
charter, and a growing secularization had brought an end to
Puritanism as a way of life in America.

Convictions

Puritanism generally extended the thought of the
English Reformation, with distinctive emphases on four
convictions: (1) that personal salvation was entirely from God,
(2) that the Bible provided the indispensable guide to life,
(3) that the church should reflect the express teaching of
Scripture, and (4) that society was one unified whole.

The Puritans believed that humankind was utterly dependent upon
God for salvation. With their predecessors in England and with
Luther and Calvin they believed that reconciliation with God came
as a gift of his grace received by faith. They were Augustinians
who regarded humans as sinners, unwilling and unable to meet the
demands, or to enjoy the fellowship, of a righteous God apart
from God's gracious initiative.

But Puritans also made distinctive contributions to the general
Reformed idea of salvation. They advocated a "plain style" of
preaching, as exemplified in the masterful sermons of John Dod
(1555 - 1645) and William Perkins (1558 - 1602), which was
consciously designed to point out simply the broad way of
destruction and the strait gate to heaven. They also placed a new
emphasis on the process of conversion. In the journals and diaries
of leaders like Thomas Shepard (1605 - 49) they charted the slow,
and often painful, process by which God brought them from rebellion
to obedience. They also spoke of salvation in terms of "covenant."
In the notes to the Geneva Bible, the translation of proto -
Puritans completed during the reign of Mary Tudor, emphasis was on a
personal covenant of grace, whereby God both promised life to those
who exercised faith in Christ and graciously provided that faith, on
the basis of Christ's sacrificial death, to the elect.

Later Puritans expanded the idea of covenant to take in the
organization of churches, seen most clearly in the rise of
Congregationalism (or Independency) and the structuring of all
society under God, of which the "Holy Commonwealths" of
Massachusetts and Connecticut were the major examples.

With the early English Reformers the Puritans believed, second, in
the supreme authority of the Bible. The use of Scripture, however,
soon came to be a great cause of offense between Puritans and their
Anglican opponents and among Puritans themselves. Puritans,
Anglicans, and the many in between all believed in the Bible's final
authority. But Puritans came to argue that Christians should do only
what the Bible commanded. Anglicans contended rather that Christians
should not do what the Bible prohibited. The difference was subtle
but profound. Among Puritans considerable differences eventually
appeared over what Scripture demanded, especially in questions
relating to the church.

Some (mostly in England) contended for a presbyterian state - church
organization, others (in Massachusetts and Connecticut) supported a
congregational organization in league with the state, while still
others (English Independents and Baptists as well as Roger Williams
in New England) believed that the Bible mandated congregational
churches separate from the state. In short, Puritans disagreed with
Anglicans about the way to interpret the Bible, but they differed
among themselves about which biblical interpretations were best.
The former disagreement dominated English religious life so long as
the king and his episcopalian allies were in control. The latter
came to the fore after the success of the Puritan Revolution, and
it led to the disintegration of Puritanism in England.

These disagreements should not hide the Puritans' overriding
commitment to the authority of Scripture. They made as serious an
attempt as has ever been made in the English - speaking world to
establish their lives on the basis of biblical instruction. When
Puritan efforts to reform the kingdom of England faltered in the
last years of Elizabeth's reign, they turned to the one sphere
they could still control, their individual families. It was during
this period around 1600 that Puritans began to place new emphasis
on the sabbath, to revive family worship, and to encourage personal
acts of mercy to the sick and dying. When Puritan prospects
brightened in the 164os, this "spiritualization of the household"
emerged into the open.

Puritans believed, third, that the church should be organized from
Scripture. Anglicans contended that episcopacy, since it was tried
and tested by time and did not violate any command of Scripture,
was a godly and appropriate way of organizing the church. Puritans
responded that the defenders of episcopacy missed the point, for
they neglected to follow the positive teachings of the Bible.
Puritans argued that Scripture laid down specific rules for
constructing and governing churches. Furthermore, the Bible taught
a system of church order that was not based on bishops. Puritans
maintained this conviction even when they failed among themselves
to agree on what that biblical system was. But even these
disagreements were fruitful, for they grounded the modern polity
of Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists as well.

The reason that Puritan beliefs concerning salvation, Scripture,
and the church created such upheaval was their fourth basic
conviction, that God had sanctioned the solidarity of society.
Most Puritans believed that a single, coordinated set of
authorities should govern life in society. The result was that
Puritans sought nothing less than to make all England Puritan.
Only late during the Puritan Commonwealth did ideas of
toleration and of what is known today as pluralism arise, but
these ideas were combated by most Puritans themselves and firmly
set to rest for another generation by the restoration of Charles II.

From a modern vantage point the intolerance entailed by a unified
view of society has harmed the Puritans' reputation. From a more
disinterested perspective it is possible also to see great
advantages. The Puritans succeeded in bursting the bonds of mere
religiosity in their efforts to serve God. Puritanism was one of
the moving forces in the rise of the English Parliament in the
early seventeenth century. For good and for ill, it provided a
foundation for the first great political revolution in modern
times. It gave immigrants to Massachusetts a social vision whose
comprehensively Christian character has never been matched in
America. And, for such a putatively uncreative movement, it
liberated vast energies in literature as well.

Notable Puritans

The Puritans enjoyed a great number of forceful
preachers and teachers. The learned Dr. William Ames explained "the
doctrine of living of God" in The Marrow of Theology, a book used
as a text during the first fifty years of Harvard College. The
sermons and tracts of William Perkins outlined with sympathy the
steps that a repentant sinner should take to find God. John Preston
preached the severity of God's law and the wideness of his mercy
fearlessly in the courts of James I and Charles I. John Owen,
adviser to Cromwell and vice - chancellor of the University of
Oxford, wrote theological treatises on the atonement and on the
Holy Spirit which still influence Calvinistic thought in the
English - speaking world. His contemporary, Richard Baxter,
published nearly two hundred works expounding the virtues of
theological moderation and the truths of what C S Lewis in the
twentieth century would call "mere Christianity." In America,
Boston's John Cotton labored to present God's glory in
conversion, and Hartford's Thomas Hooker glorified God in the
labors of the converted.

The Westminster Confession and Catechisms which Puritan divines
wrote at the request of Parliament (1643 - 47) remain a guide to
Reformed theology, especially in Presbyterian circles, to this
day. Together, the works of the Puritans comprise Protestantism's
most extensive library of sacred and practical theology.

Important as the contributions of ministers were, the greatest
contribution of Puritans to Christian history probably resided with
its laymen. The English - speaking world has never seen such a
cluster of thoroughly Christian political leaders as the Lord
Protector Oliver Cromwell, the governor of Massachusetts John
Winthrop, or the governor of Plymouth William Bradford. These
leaders erred, perhaps often, but they yet devoted their lives to
public service, self - consciously and whole - heartedly, out of
deepest gratitude to the God of their salvation.

We also glimpse the genius of Puritanism when we look beyond its
politicians to its writers. It is all too easy to forget that John
Milton, who in Paradise Lost dared "assert Eternal Providence / And
justify the ways of God to men," had earlier defended the execution
of Charles I and served as Cromwell's Latin (or corresponding)
secretary. John Bunyan served in Cromwell's army and preached as a
layman during the Commonwealth before he was jailed in Bedford for
his Puritan beliefs, where he redeemed the time by writing The
Pilgrim's Progress. In America, Puritanism produced a woman poet
of note in Anne Bradstreet (1616 - 72). It also gave us the poems of
Edward Taylor (1645 - 1729), a retiring country minister. Taylor's
meditations, composed to prepare his own heart for quarterly
celebrations of the Lord's Supper, are among the finest poems
ever written by an American.

Evaluation

The Puritans resemble other groups in Christian
history who, in forsaking all for God, have won back not only God
but much of the world as well. They stand with the early
Franciscans, the Protestant Reformers, the Jesuits, the
Anabaptists, the early Methodists, and the Reformed Dutch of the
late nineteenth century who, in their own separate ways, were
transfixed by the glories of redemption and who went far in
redeeming the world around themselves. With these groups the
Puritans also verified the truth of the gospel words: they sought
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and much more
was added to them besides.

Mark A Noll
(Elwell Evangelical Dictionary)

Bibliography
E H Emerson, ed., English Puritanism from John Hooper
to John Milton; D Neal, The History of the Puritans; W Haller, The
Rise of Puritanism; P Collinson, The Elizabethan Puritan Movement;
C Hill, Society and Puritanism in Pre - Revolutionary England;
R S Paul, The Lord Protector: Religion and Politics in the Life of
Oliver Cromwell; R Baxter, Reliquiae Baxterianae; P Miller and T
Johnson, eds., The Puritans; F J Bremer, The Puritan Experiment; P
Miller, The New England Mind; S Bercovitch, The Puritan Origins of
the American Self; E S Morgan, The Puritan Family and the Puritan
Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop; W Bradford, Of Plymouth
Plantation.

Puritans

Catholic Information

One of the chief difficulties in studying the various movements loosely spoken
of as Puritanism is to frame an exact definition capable of including the varied
and sometimes mutually inconsistent forms of belief usually classified under
that name. In its original meaning it signified "those who strove for a worship
purified from all taint of popery" (Maitland, op. cit. inf., 590). A more recent
writer adopting and expanding this definition adds: "The many various sects and
persons who fall under this definition, were usually characterized both by an
aversion from gaiety and by a passionate love of civic freedom" (Trevelyan, op.
cit. inf., 60). We may see the first beginnings of English Puritanism in the
attitude of those who in 1563 entered into the "Vestiarian Controversy" by
opposing the use, by the clergy, of the cap and gown in daily life and of the
surplice in church. English exiles from Geneva were active in the cause, and by
1565 their resistance to the queen's wishes subjected some of them to loss of
benefices. This controversy of rights and vestments developed into a controversy
of polity, until Presbyterianism emerged in antagonism to Episcopalianism. Yet
in the process the movement developed on such divergent lines that Puritanism
soon included three different theories of Church government. First there were
the moderates who were willing to retain government by bishops, though they
preferred the title "superintendent", but who wished the usages of the
Establishment to conform more nearly to Genevan practices. Those who held this
system were in agreement with the Scottish Presbyterianism which had been
established by John Knox. Secondly there were the strict Presbyterians who
wished for the Calvinistic form of government as well as the theology and order
of worship. In England the movement was led by Thomas Cartwright of Cambridge,
whose doctrine that there should be equality of authority and that bishop and
presbyter were all one was soon adopted in Scotland. Thirdly there were the Free
Churchmen or Independents who repudiated all coercive power in the Church and
wished all men to be free in forming congregations. Their leader was Robert
Brown, whose followers were at first persecuted by Anglicans and Presbyterians
alike, but whose descendants grew in power and influence until under Oliver
Cromwell they became the predominant party.

The three bodies differed from one another in doctrine, in ecclesiastical
polity, and in their view of toleration. The strength of Puritanism as common to
these three bodies lay in the results effected by the general study of the
Bible, in which the Puritans learned the relations of man with God as
exemplified in the histories and parables of Holy Writ. This private study of
the Scriptures was carried on by the aid of private interpretation which
inevitably resulted in the multiplication of minor sects such as Fifth Monarchy
men, Levellers, Diggers, and others. Thus Puritanism could never attain a
recognized dogmatic system. At first it shared many Calvinistic views with the
theologians of the Established Church, but these were abandoned by some and
Calvin's doctrines were rejected first by the Baptists and afterwards by the
Quakers and the Unitarians. However, the lack of a consistent theology was the
less felt because of the great stress which the Puritans laid upon "serving God
in spirit and in truth" - by feeling and conduct rather than by doctrine. This
spirit is most pronounced in the Puritan works which achieved the highest
popularity: Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress", George Fox's "Journal", Thomas
Ellwood's "History of My Own Life" and Baxter's "Saint's Everlasting Rest". In
matters of Church government some kind of system became necessary and the
Scottish Presbyterians evolved a plan, embodied in the First Book of Discipline
which had been drawn up in the Edinburgh Assembly of 1560, and which was
concerned chiefly with the congregation itself. This was supplemented by the
Second Book of Discipline of 1578 which regulated the dependence of the
congregation on the higher courts. By it Presbyterianism was fully established;
for the superintendents were abolished and all authority was transferred from
individual ministers to four bodies, the Kirk Session, the Presbytery, the
Provincial Synod, and the General Assembly.

The English Puritans regarded this system from two diametrically opposed points
of view. It was approved by the Presbyterians and condemned by the Independents.
But for a time they were kept united by the common necessity of opposing the
alliance between the High Church party and the Crown which took place under
James I. The struggle became political, and the Arminianism, Episcopalianism,
and divine right of the sovereign maintained by the one party were opposed by
the Calvinism, Presbyterianism, and Republicanism of the other. When the
enactments of the Long Parliament had resulted in victory for the Puritans,
their own internal differences clamoured for settlement and the Westminster
Assembly of 1643 was an unsuccessful attempt at composing them. The four
parties, Moderate Presbyterians, Scottish Presbyterians, Erastians, and
Independents having quarrelled fiercely, agreed on a compromise favouring the
Moderates. The Presbyterians, however, gradually lost ground, owing to the
growing power of the Independents who had the strong support of Cromwell and his
army. They in their turn were destroyed as a political power by the Restoration,
since when Puritanism ceased to be a force in England under that name, and
survived only in the various Nonconformist sects which have increased and
multiplied in number down to the present day, without, however, any augmentation
of collective strength. Many of these bodies have long ceased to represent
Puritanism in any respect save that of dissent from the Established Church. One
of the most picturesque incidents in the history of Puritanism and one of far
reaching influence on subsequent American history was the departure of the
"Pilgrim Fathers" - seventy-four English Puritans and twenty-eight women - who
sailed from England in the May Flower and landed on Plymouth Rock, 25 December,
1620. There they founded a colony, representing both types, the Plymouth colony
being Congregationalists, the Massachusetts Bay settlers, Presbyterians.

CAMPBELL, "Puritanism in Holland, England, and America" (London, 1892); DEXTER,
"England and Holland" (London, 1906); GREGORY, "Puritanism" (London, 1895);
WAKEMAN, "The Church and the Puritans: 1570-1660" (London, 1887); BYINGTON, "The
Puritan in England and New England" (London, 1896), giving a useful
bibliography; NEAL, "History of the Puritans, 1517-1688" (London, 1822); STOWELL
AND WILSON, "History of the Puritans in England" (London, 1849); HOPKINS, "The
Puritans: Church, Court and Parliament during the reigns of Edward VI and
Elizabeth" (Boston, 1859-61); MARSDEN, "History of the early Puritans, to 1642"
(London, 1850); IDEM, "History of the later Puritans, 1642-62" (London, 1852);
TULLOCH, "English Puritanism and its leaders" (Edinburgh, 1861); MAITLAND, "The
Anglican Settlement and the Scottish Reformation" in "Cambridge Modern History",
II (Cambridge, 1903); TREVELYAN, "England under the Stuarts" (London, 1904). See
also "Reprints of the Clarendon Historical Society" (Edinburgh, 1882-6).

The individual articles presented here were generally first published
in the early 1980s. This subject presentation was first placed
on the Internet in May 1997.

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